Cheap Eats - East meets west at PanAsia Bistro

I must admit I’ve been a victim of fusion confusion. This trendy method of blending foods from different cultures seemed to be the culinary equivalent of political correctness — it tried too hard to force a cultural awareness and sensitivity that should come naturally. Instead of harboring new appreciation for little-known ethnic gems, many fusion restaurants overwhelm the food with forced combinations and pretentious presentations. The essence of great ingredients gets lost in too much translation.

PanAsia Bistro restored my faith that fusion need not be contrived or cutesy. It might be easy to overlook the small storefront eatery located in the Market Center shopping center on the ever-bustling Holcomb Bridge Road. But don’t. All outer sterility is lost when you enter the eatery with its clean but cozy decor. The walls are brightly painted with just enough accessorizing of watercolors, foliage and splashes of silk.

Cross-border blending: Chef Bill Schroeder and wife Shi Yi took over ownership of the once primarily Vietnamese restaurant around two years ago. Since then, they have allowed the restaurant to naturally evolve into a representation of their various cultural and life experiences. Schroeder works the back and ensures each dish is cooked fresh and flavored with elements from his Cajun-cooking roots. He mixes it with some of Shi Yi’s native southern Chinese cuisine as well as various other Asian and Indian influences. Schroeder’s specials are driven not by a set menu but rather by what ingredients are the freshest at the time and what the customers seem to like best.

Fusion Without the Fuss: The result provides some surprisingly inexpensive eats made with high-quality ingredients. Lunch entrees, averaging around $7, feature choices such as wild-caught, sushi-grade salmon with an orange-cilantro sauce touched with honey and colorful peppers. Southeast Asian curry, Southern-style, mixes Madras curry flavors with coconut-cream sauce over okra, Japanese sweet potatoes and a choice of tofu, shrimp or salmon. All entrees are offered with either steamed jasmine or nutty brown rice.

More standard Asian fare such as pad Thai and pepper steak are available for those seeking the familiar. Naturally light but satisfying vegetarian dishes such as PanAsia’s monk salad mix papaya, jicama, greens and more together and top it off with tofu croutons.

It all sounds like too much to chew on but it somehow works, and Shi Yi, ever present in the front of the house, seems quite eager to answer questions. The occasional daily specials keep things even more interesting.

Evening Ease: As well as providing a place for business folk to grab a refreshing lunch, PanAsia also serves similar fare for dinner, when diners can sup more leisurely, split interesting appetizers and sip wine from an ever-growing selection. Also available are bubble teas and Asian ice cream.

Rather than forcefully fuse ingredients into a melting pot where everything is lost in a too complex reduction, the food here is more naturally tossed, like a simple salad made spectacular by allowing all ingredients to fall randomly together into a dish even finer than the sum of its parts.